how Lorna AND gra­ham DID it

‘We sold the old kitchen on Gumtree and got £250 for it. The buy­ers came and dis­man­tled it, which also saved a bit. When it came to choos­ing a new one, I knew I wanted a be­spoke one from The Main Com­pany. I work there as a fur­ni­ture painter, so I’ve had kitchen envy for years! I didn’t even look any­where else. I ag­o­nised over the de­sign, want­ing to get ev­ery­thing per­fect. I wanted all the ap­pli­ances to be in­te­grated to make the room feel stream­lined. We’ve also got a built-in bin and re­cy­cling com­part­ments in a unit next to the sink. I’m a keen cook, so it was im­por­tant to have lots of open shelves to keep my cook­ery books and kit to hand. We all adore the kitchen now. I’m glad I spent so much time on the tiny de­tails and get­ting the de­sign right. There’s ab­so­lutely noth­ing I’d change!’

above ‘ONE THING THAT HAD TO STAY FROM THE OLD KITCHEN IS THE AGA,’ SAYS LORNA. ‘IT CAME WITH THE HOUSE AND WE’VE GROWN TO LOVE IT –

IT’S PART OF THE FAM­ILY!’

For a sim­i­lar range, try the two-oven oil Aga, £8,445,

Aga Liv­ing. Cast-iron casse­role dish, £35, Sains­bury’s

right ‘BE­FORE, WE HAD MORE CUP­BOARDS THAN DRAW­ERS, BUT NOW THE RE­VERSE IS TRUE. IT’S SO MUCH EAS­IER TO SEE WHAT YOU’VE GOT WHEN IT’S ALL IN DRAW­ERS.’

Be­spoke cab­i­nets, from £600 for a 600mm base unit, The Main Com­pany. Re­claimed oak floor­ing, £78 per sq m, Shaws

above ‘I DIDN’T WANT A DRAINER ON THE WORK­TOP, SO I WENT FOR A TWO-BOWL SINK ONE FOR WASH­ING AND ONE FOR DRY­ING, LEAV­ING THE WORK­TOPS CLEAR AND MAK­ING THE WHOLE ROOM FEEL MORE STREAM­LINED.’

What i Learned “If you go be­spoke, do the ground­work first. Think ev­ery­thing through, from the size of the drawer in­serts to where the bins will go – that way you get your money’s worth”

LESS OP­PRES­SIVE THAN WALL UNITS AND RE­CLAIMED WOOD ADDS CHAR­AC­TER

be­low ‘HAV­ING A TA­BLE IN THE KITCHEN WAS IM­POR­TANT,’ SAYS LORNA. ‘WE’VE HAD IS­LAND UNITS BE­FORE, AND THEY’RE GREAT – BUT NOT THE MOST COMFY TO SIT AT. I THINK THEY ONLY WORK IF YOU HAVE ROOM FOR A TA­BLE, TOO’